I know when we first took Charlie in, I was hesitant to put it up on social media "just in case" something went wrong. Like her birth parents wanting her back. But when is the right time? Do we put it up straight away in faith? Do we put it up after a week or two? Or when the adoption was finalised (when she was 2)?? Its a weird place to be mentally and emotionally. Trying to keep people updated, but also knowing that things can go wrong? It can drive you insane.

Funnily enough, we find ourselves in a similar position once again, but it is even more complicated. But I am going to try and explain it so that all our friends, family and supporters can understand it.

School trips may look a bit like this.... Tina The Black Mumba is doing well!

So over the past few months a local kids home has had to close its boys program, with the deadline being December 2017. John and I have known these boys for as long as they have been in this kids home (two of them for 9 years), so when we heard that they may be placed in another kids home we prayed about how God could use us. The thought of them being re-homed into another foundation did not sit well with us as we see so many attachment disorders come from this form of child raising, and the boys are at such a pivotal age. As you already know we took in Boom Boom a few months ago, and he is doing great. The other 2 left at the home are 7 and 10, and are both introverts, and so we had a great plan to get to know them more and talk with their families about the possibility of adoption before December came around.

Best laid plans right? Anyway about 2 weeks ago it completely snowballed due to a bunch of different factors that meant the boys were enrolled in our local school and moved into the farm last Thursday. So that means we have an informal type of guardianship agreement with the families and will need to start formal paperwork sometime in the future... So once again the legal side is all up in the air. But right now our attitudes are this - even if we have the boys only for the shortest of times (like for example their next of kin could decide at any moment to take them back) we will love on them and make them our family.

So the time has come for formal introductions!Firstly we have Wakim. Wakim is 10 going on 11 and is in Grade 5. He likes playing card games, drawing pictures, playing soccer and riding bicycles. Definitely more of an inside boy, and so we were initially worried about how he would cope on the farm (as its still pretty rough), but so far he is going well. He needs a bit of extra encouragement to get out into the farm chores, but is getting more and more interested in the animals and outside activities. We would love to buy him a bicycle to keep him outdoors as much as possible, as when he sits down he's down for the count. We would love prayer for Wakim in relation to his Identity.

Then we have Anupong (or Pong for short). He is 7 going on 8 and is in Grade 2. He loves following Boom Boom around, colouring in pictures, feeding the baby goats and is always smiling and laughing. We would love to buy him a smaller bicycle as he tried to ride mine the other day and had a big stack that ended with a corked thigh. Poor thing. Due to a traumatic early childhood he has issues with his memory and development (emotional and mental). We would love prayer for this as well.

The last few weeks have been really emotionally overwhelming for me - I think because I see the big picture and all the possible issues, current and future. This has made me exhausted and I have not felt physically 100% due to this. John has been amazing. It was all his idea to take them in this quickly and has slipped into the roll of fun Dad so well. He worked really hard to get our house finished so that the boys could move straight into the mud hut. We are now trying to raise funds on DonorSee to fix up the boys old room so they can have more space. Amazingly yesterday we were able to get a solar panel system in place (fundraised through DonorSee), and we now have LIGHTS! Its the small things. SO yeah prayer for all the things would be appreciated.

Finally - THANKS SO MUCH for all our friends and family who have been prayerfully and financially supporting us during this time. It makes me realise that we really aren't alone in this journey (even though I feel like that a lot of the time). Be blessed all you amazing people.Photo Cred: Carl Butel​

Hi Heidi
It was great to hear about what you are doing in Thailand! Sounds like God is using you greatly to reveal his love. We would love to support you. Please keep us informed of needs you have. Jared is 18 now & wanting to do a couple of missions trips next year. Not sure if there are opportunities there. Joel is living in Perth & has done some studying there. We are in WA in Geraldton supporting marriage mentoring in our local church.
Blessings
Tracy & Darryl

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Farm Blog written by Heidi

This blog has been part updates and part personal. I am now changing it to simply farm updates. I may start a personal one soon, but not sure.